IDG Project Description

Juvenile Justice Systems and Post-Prison Rehabilitation Project

Background

The Costa Rica Juvenile Justice Systems and Post-Prison Rehabilitation Project is aimed at bringing together stakeholders in Costa Rica's 14 year old rights-based juvenile justice system to assess progress and results to date, to identify concrete steps to improve outcomes for juvenile offenders, and to develop and improve methods for evaluating the effectiveness of current and future interventions.

Approach

Building on Costa Rica's strong rights-based foundation, Urban Institute and partners (Defense of Children International- Costa Rica and Tetra Tech DPK) are providing training and technical assistance to target resources and reforms to troubleshoot concrete issues in juvenile justice and corrections systems in Costa Rica.

Focused on the courts, corrections, and rehabilitation and reentry programs, this tailored program is aimed at bringing together all stakeholders and helping the juvenile justice system to diagnose critical flaws in current policies and programs; design remedies; evaluate the extent to which new initiatives produce positive outcomes; and assess the broader impacts (positive and/or negative) of those initiatives on crime, offender rehabilitation, justice system expenditures and public safety. The project includes (1) knowledge sharing on regional and international experience with similar juvenile justice system issues and solutions; (2) technical assistance and training in analytical tools required for next generation juvenile justice system improvements; (3) mentoring and analytical support for a concrete project; and (4) enhancement of national capacity to support ongoing evolution of the juvenile justice system to effectively meet emerging requirements through evidenced-based decisionmaking, planning, and management.